There’s a certain exhilarating newness to Pac-Man Championship Edition, which is very strange. The original Pac-Man arcade game is almost 30 years old, and its iconic graphics, gameplay, and sound effects are practically ingrained in our Pac-DNA. Even Pac-Man CE is “old”, having been released on Xbox Live Arcade over two years ago. We have to get to the bottom of this: Why does this iPhone release feel so new? And why are we feeling tingly all over?

Pac-Man CE succeeds where Pac-Man Remix, released over the summer, failed badly. Pac-Man Remix was hard to enjoy because of poor controls, and Pac-Man CE fixes this several times over with options for D-pads, finger swipes, and regional controls that let you tap broad areas of the screen to move. No matter your preference, we found that the game controlled smoothly, even at the increased speeds that become frantic as each round runs out of time. But this is more than just a matter of controls.

I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is more Pac-Man.

It’s not just about the amount of content, either. One of the big problems we had with Remix was that it was over fairly quickly, and there was not a lot of joy in replaying the game. CE, on the other hand, is all about replay value. The five initial championship boards are tuned to perfection, to be played over and over again, so you can master each five-minute course and achieve a slightly higher score. You’re also given 20 one-minute missions, which you can replay three times each with slightly tougher parameters for a higher medal.

If the initial batch of levels isn’t enough for you, you can always pay $3.99 and quadruple the amount of content in the game. The 10 extra championship boards, 15 challenges, and 100 missions are a staggering amount of extra content if you enjoy the game as much as we do.

We don’t consider this deal to be an awful initial buy-in; we instead see it as an amazing extra level pack. Maybe that’s because we see the glass half-full, or maybe it’s because Pac-Man slipped something into our drink and we’re seeing and hearing amazing things in this arcade disco.

Yellow man of custard, dripping from a dead dog’s eye.

The real reason we are so exhilarated by Pac-Man Championship Edition is not the controls or the amount of content, although both are excellent. It’s the astonishing presentation that makes you feel like you are in 1980 and on powerful club drugs. The techno/disco soundtrack is thumping and speeds up over the course of a five-minute round, while the colors swirl and wave, going submarine red when you’ve got a power pill, making ghosts fear you.

The widescreen mazes are generous enough to allow new routes to appear every few seconds as you gobble your way through a line of pellets. The score multipliers grow and grow, rewarding you for staying alive, nabbing ghosts, and clearing fruit and pellets as fast as they can appear. Whether you’re playing for one minute, five minutes, or an hour, Pac-Man Championship Edition has a mode or challenge for you to beat for a temporary nirvana.

A few oversights did bring us back down to earth. The lack of online high scores is surprising in a game that’s all about high scores, and we implore Namco to right this wrong. Also, the gamespace is a bit tiny, shrunk down to keep the ratio correct but leaving the bottom third of the screen unused.

While the downloadable content may be a mental barrier for some, if you choose to take the initial plunge on Pac-Man CE, the doors of perception will be thrown wide open for you. Inside is a fantastic game, one of the best arcade experiences on the iPhone, and like a junkie you’ll happily pay more for another big fix. Namco’s nailed it this time around.

We’re pleased as punch that Pac-Man Championship Edition is now available for your iPhone! We’ve been playing this one all week, and while the DLC is a bummer, the launch price of $2.99 is super-sweet for the initial batch of levels.

In the first set of levels, you get 5 Championship boards (which last five minutes each and are highly replayable) and 20 missions (which last only 1 minute or so, max, and you will need to beat three times with harder parameters to master). The downloadable content costs another $3.99 and will give you 10 more championship boards and 100 (!) more missions.

Check out this hands-on video, and tell us that Disco Pac-Man (as we’ve taken to calling it) doesn’t look mighty appealing. Now, bring on the online high scores, Namco!

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Industrial Toys has released it’s follow-up to the great Midnight Star. In Renegade, a much more casual game, the focus is on short bursts of play and the never-ending constant upgrading of weapons and gear. This game brings the great controls for a mobile FPS that the previous version had, but focuses less on the story and more on the frantic gameplay.

Heroes of Loot 2 is an update to the original that brings even more to love of the original. This time around the player chooses two player types to take into the dungeon, switching between them in the game as needed.

Heroes of Loot 2 is 50% off right now for launch.

After their job, of keeping the dungeons in balance, was done, our heroes needed a new job. Roaming the lands they found a call for heroes, a castle in need, possible even a damsel in distress?

Pick two heroes to take into the adventure, controlling both heroes and using their special skills to navigate the dangerous castle hallways, rooms and floors. Switching between the two characters to solve quests, puzzles, and of course clear the dungeons of all evil.

Human Resources Corporation, from some of the same fine folks that brought us World of Goo is a puzzle games that makes some of the basics of programming into a fun little exercise.

The premise is that the player is a new recruit in a corporation that need to tell other in game characters how to move and act by giving a set of program commands to complete tasks. It’s a great introduction to the logic used in programming and a fun little game with great personality. Which is expected considering the team that created this.

Temple Run 2 has done it again. Expanded into a whole new world with the Blazing Sands expansion. Available now in the game.

Touch Arcade notes:

It’s called “Blazing Sands,” and as you can see from the above trailer, you’ll be running through canyons along side raging rapids and Egyptian-y looking statues while marauding vines are smacking you in the face… Which really isn’t much of a surprise as vines in video games seem to be jerks almost 100% of the time. Of course there’s new stuff to unlock too between new outfits and Blazing Sands artifacts. If you collect ’em all, you’ll even get a swanky new hat.

From Martin Magni, the developer of the great Odd Bot Out, Mekorama hit the App Store this week. This charming puzzle game has the player guide a robot through a series of very unique 3D puzzles. The puzzles have shades of Monument Valley without the Escher inspired vibe.

One of the features that really sets this game apart from others is the integrated level editor. This lets players create their own levels and share them via a simple QR code integrated image. Take a look at the new levels shared on Twitter with the #Mekorama hashtag. I’ve even created one to test the path finding skills of that little robot.

Mekorama is free in the App Store with a pay what you want price model.

There have been a lot of games that have aped the style of Monument Valley, but not that have really gotten the idea and complexity of the game. That is until Evo Explores. Evo Explores really understand the game and does a great job of adding puzzle types to the original that it unashamedly takes inspiration from. It’s so good that members of the Monument Valley team have remarked how impressed they are.

But beside that, the game can stand on its own as well. It’s a great suspension of belief type puzzler with new and interesting mechanics and is just plain fun. The story that goes along is a little weak, but then again that’s just a small part of the game. Well worth a download.

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